Why are so many Tibetan children in state-run boarding schools?

Nearly 80% of Tibetan children attend state-run boarding schools where Mandarin Chinese is the main language of instruction. The Chinese government says this makes education more accessible for the children of farmers and herders who live far from schools.

David Rennie, The Economist’s Beijing bureau chief, travels to a Tibetan area of Qinghai province to try to find out if this is the whole story. He and James Miles, our China writer-at-large, speak to two activists from the Tibet Action Institute, and ask why are so many Tibetan children in boarding schools, and what’s the impact on their home life and culture?